No. 2 Duke Ready To Take Another Swing At No. 1 UConn

December 16, 2013|By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

DURHAM, N.C. – Exams ended last weekend, but it's test day again for Duke.

Its women's basketball game against No. 1 UConn on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium provides the No. 2 Blue Devils a chance to do something they haven't done since Joanne P. McCallie became coach in 2007.

UConn (10-0) has won the past six games against Duke (10-0) by an average of 29.3, including a memorable 35-point win in the 2011 Elite Eight in Philadelphia.

McCallie knows how to win, having just won her 500th career game. She also knows Duke is not alone in its travails against UConn.

"Every year it's been a different team," said McCallie, who has coached three programs (also Maine and Michigan State) against UConn in 22 seasons. "I don't think you can show me any situation [series against UConn] where it hasn't been lopsided.

"They have the history. They've won a lot of games. They are well-coached for nearly 30 years. So they have the longevity. And they've had terrific players. The reality is that Connecticut has had continuity. They are out in front. So all we can do is concentrate on what we are doing and see what we can do."

Both teams have toppled major nonconference opponents. Both have All-Americans and All-America candidates. UConn will return junior Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and sophomore Morgan Tuck to its rotation for the first time since Nov. 11 against Stanford.

"I've been practicing, I feel so much better," said Mosqueda-Lewis, who sustained an elbow injury [bruised nerve] in a fall against the Cardinal. "I don't see why I shouldn't be able to play."

It's clear Duke desperately wants to get where UConn has been since 1995. The Blue Devils have lost in the Elite Eight four years in a row – Baylor (2010), UConn (2011), Stanford (2012) and Notre Dame (2013). If that's a wall, Duke has hit it.

"We don't think about pressure of playing," UConn's Breanna Stewart said. "We understand it comes with deciding to play at UConn. We know there are teams that want to take us down. We prepare for that; the coaches help us. But we focus on helping ourselves."

Matching UConn is going to require a repetition of success. And ESPN's Jay Bilas, a Duke graduate and top analyst of men's basketball, said he believes the Blue Devils likely understand that.

"You want to try and be on that level that UConn is on," Bilas said. "But you do not get to that level, you are not thought of as being an equal, by just beating UConn once. It might be the start of something, but it is not going to indicate equality."

Bilas knows legacy. He played for Mike Krzyzewski from 1982-86 and later was his assistant (1990-92). He believes casual fans don't fully realize the extent of expectations UConn has surpassed.

"People do not understand it is a heck of a lot easier to take a swing at the champ then it is to be the champ and be forced to deal with every single challenger," Bilas said. "Do you not think every team UConn plays doesn't circle it on its schedule? On what schedule would you not see it? There are none.

"UConn needs to match its opponent's intensity every single game it plays. And it's not even a question of comparing talent. Remember, every single game UConn plays represents its opponent's storm-the-court game, a 'SportsCenter' highlight game if [UConn loses].

"That's a tremendous responsibility for the players and coaches to bear. The pressure is on UConn all the time. That doesn't mean Duke won't feel the pressure, but no one is going to roll their eyes in disgust if Duke losses. It's only a story if UConn loses."

Geno Auriemma said the way to combat the stress is by believing it does not exist.

"I don't know how teams approach us now. I am not in their shoes, I have no access to their practices or film rooms," Auriemma said. "But the week leading up to our first meeting with Tennessee in 1995 we never watched their game film. In my mind, I didn't care about what they had and neither did my players. We just cared about ourselves.

"Our players didn't know who any of Tennessee's players were. They didn't know Nikki McCray or Pashen Thompson. They just knew they were playing Tennessee and it was the next game on the schedule. And we've been that way since the beginning of time. It's our culture. I don't know if there is any way else we can be.

"I know if Duke beat us Tuesday, we know it will be its highlight film. We don't care about that. So what? If we didn't play well against Stanford or Maryland, it would have been their highlight film. We understand that, which is why we don't talk about it. All we talk about is how we expect to play every night.

"We have our own level of expectation. And we do it differently here. We prepare a highlight film for our team after every win to remind us how good we are."